Ryan Tannehill continues to establish himself as the future at quarterback for the Dolphins. Tannehill finished the day 22 of 38 for 290 yards and 1 TD. He basically carried the team on a day when the defense didn't show up.

Brian Hartline showed up with 8 catches for 107 yards.

Davone Bess chipped in 6 catches for 67 yards.

The Bad

The entire defense, starting with the secondary and the pass rush and even at times the run defense, abandoned the Dolphins today. Andrew Luck broke a rookie passing record by throwing for 433 yards. The Colts were 13 of 19 on third down and held onto the ball for 34:54. The Dolphins had several chances to intercept Luck, but these were dropped. Shades of previous seasons.

A special recognition goes out to Sean Smith, who missed tackles, got beat in coverage and had at least three plays in which he should have had an interception, including one where he was outjumped by the smallish T.Y. Hilton for a touchdown. Smith has had his share of good and bad days, but this is probably one of the worst for him.

The offensive line, specifically Jake Long, had a rough day. They struggled to consistently produce running lanes for the running backs despite facing one of the worst run defenses in the league. They also let Tannehill get hit too many times. Long in particular had his fair share of losses against Dwight Freeney.

The Ugly

The defensive playcalling on third down was very questionable. The Dolphins seemed to be content in rushing 3 or 4 and playing coverage. I don't recall one instance in which the Dolphins blitzed Luck on 3rd and long. With that much time to throw, he was able to wait it out while his wideouts got open against the soft coverage the Dolphins secondary was playing.

Overall

The first matchup between first round picks. Tannehill held his own and the future looks bright for the Dolphins at quarterback. But this team is still a work in progress and the pass rush and coverage need to be addressed. It was a exciting game and the QB match up did not disappoint. But the Dolphins were on the wrong side of the scoreboard in this one.

Tannehill played well, but he did have happy feet and lost accuracy in the clutch. He is not yet ready to carry the team and no rookie should have to. Unfortunately, Luck is the real deal and he was able to carry his team, with a little help from the Dolphins defense.

_________________Philbin's countenance exudes confidence!1984 was so long ago...Will there ever be another rainbow?

Now this was a great write up rich. I'm so sick of coming on this board and seeing all of the bridge jumpers. It's nice to see that there are some levelheaded fans out there that don't go from this team is awesome to fire everyone and rebuild in 1 week. The fact is the secondary let us down big time today and we still had a chance to win. Onto next week!

Good write up as usual buddy. Smith and Long had a rough day today. We should have blitzed on every down, whats the worse that could have happened? He would throw for over 400yrds? Oh yeah, he did that already with no blitz.

Good write up Rich. Sean Smith didn't step up today along with the rest of the secondary.

I am still trying to settle down off the gift interceptions that were dropped today. Very unfortunate, but I am trying to reason with myself that my expectations are just too high for them. The good news is that there are plenty of games left in the season. Let's see what they do now, but just very frustrating when they lose games where they were actually in position a few different times to capitalize on the Colts mistakes. Oh well, perhaps we win next week!

I'm so sick of coming on this board and seeing all of the bridge jumpers. It's nice to see that there are some levelheaded fans out there that don't go from this team is awesome to fire everyone and rebuild in 1 week. The fact is the secondary let us down big time today and we still had a chance to win. Onto next week!

Not seen one post where anyone suggested Miami fire anyone & start over. Talk about going to extreme.

This game hurt Miami two fold. One another AFC loss to a team they should have beaten. Two another win for the Colts & that 2nd just gets lower & lower.

Days like this make me watch more college football to see who can help us next year...need playmakers on D (LB, CB) speed at the WR and get Cam Wake some help! BUT CAN WE PLEASE GIVE LAMAR MILLER SOME TOUCHES!!!!!

Got to give credit to Luck.............that guy is really good. I'm hoping we can correct the issues in our secondary.

As far as coaching, I'm more down on the second half offense calls than the defense. We only scored 3 points in the 2nd half, bogged down at the Colt's 13 and had to settle for a field goal........we really did nothing after moving the ball extremely well and getting up 17-7.

Coyle did a good job of putting the Colts in 3rd and long..........you've got to expect the players to step up and stop some of those. Sean Smith's play cost us atleast 10 points. Dansby missed int probably cost us another 7. Even when we blitzed, the Colts picked it up............Wake was the only one to provide any disruption to Luck.

Got to like Tannehill, the Kid is tough and smart..............but my hope of taking the Division from the Pats will probably have to wait.

We just need to keep things in perspective. Miami has played above my expectations. Tannehill looks good and the defense has had their moments. I think Philbin will turn this franchise around, another draft and we should be much improved.

Got to give credit to Luck.............that guy is really good. I'm hoping we can correct the issues in our secondary.

As far as coaching, I'm more down on the second half offense calls than the defense. We only scored 3 points in the 2nd half, bogged down at the Colt's 13 and had to settle for a field goal........we really did nothing after moving the ball extremely well and getting up 17-7.

Coyle did a good job of putting the Colts in 3rd and long..........you've got to expect the players to step up and stop some of those. Sean Smith's play cost us atleast 10 points. Dansby missed int probably cost us another 7. Even when we blitzed, the Colts picked it up............Wake was the only one to provide any disruption to Luck.

Got to like Tannehill, the Kid is tough and smart..............but my hope of taking the Division from the Pats will probably have to wait.

Okay I'll give luck some credit but let's don't lose perspective here he was playing catch with wide open receivers... He was virtually kept untouched and didn't really do anything spectacular he had eons back there yet still made mistakes. There is no way that you throw that duck into double coverage like that and not have it picked or at least batted down!..

Look our defence made him look real good, there was no tight window throws or threading in a nice seam pass or two?... He sat back there and threw it to guys wide open guys all day!.. Why?.. Because we allowed it!..

Almost 300 yards at half time and them proceeded to make ZERO adjustments in the third quarter. Like how many times do you let someone punch you in the face until you do something about it?.. You wanna credit someone?.. Credit the colts O line and credit the Dolphins D for not putting up much of a fight..

Not to put it on the Refs but looking back at this game on my DVR and I'm counting 5 missed holding calls on Wake and Vernon not to mention Odrick...hopefully this will re air on NFL Network so you guys can check it out!

Days like this make me watch more college football to see who can help us next year...need playmakers on D (LB, CB) speed at the WR and get Cam Wake some help! BUT CAN WE PLEASE GIVE LAMAR MILLER SOME TOUCHES!!!!!

Got to give credit to Luck.............that guy is really good. I'm hoping we can correct the issues in our secondary.

As far as coaching, I'm more down on the second half offense calls than the defense. We only scored 3 points in the 2nd half, bogged down at the Colt's 13 and had to settle for a field goal........we really did nothing after moving the ball extremely well and getting up 17-7.

Coyle did a good job of putting the Colts in 3rd and long..........you've got to expect the players to step up and stop some of those. Sean Smith's play cost us atleast 10 points. Dansby missed int probably cost us another 7. Even when we blitzed, the Colts picked it up............Wake was the only one to provide any disruption to Luck.

Got to like Tannehill, the Kid is tough and smart..............but my hope of taking the Division from the Pats will probably have to wait.

Okay I'll give luck some credit but let's don't lose perspective here he was playing catch with wide open receivers... He was virtually kept untouched and didn't really do anything spectacular he had eons back there yet still made mistakes. There is no way that you throw that duck into double coverage like that and not have it picked or at least batted down!..

Look our defence made him look real good, there was no tight window throws or threading in a nice seam pass or two?... He sat back there and threw it to guys wide open guys all day!.. Why?.. Because we allowed it!..

Almost 300 yards at half time and them proceeded to make ZERO adjustments in the third quarter. Like how many times do you let someone punch you in the face until you do something about it?.. You wanna credit someone?.. Credit the colts O line and credit the Dolphins D for not putting up much of a fight..

let's not forget he should have thrown 3 or 4 interceptions. If only our d-backs had fingers.

Not to put it on the Refs but looking back at this game on my DVR and I'm counting 5 missed holding calls on Wake and Vernon not to mention Odrick...hopefully this will re air on NFL Network so you guys can check it out!

Days like this make me watch more college football to see who can help us next year...need playmakers on D (LB, CB) speed at the WR and get Cam Wake some help! BUT CAN WE PLEASE GIVE LAMAR MILLER SOME TOUCHES!!!!!

I'm starting to have serious doubts about this offensive line of ours. They consistently let Tannehill down in this game. Whether it was a missed block, or a bad penalty, they simply stunk the place up. Tannehill had a solid game, and if the o-line had done a better job protecting him he possibly could have kept up with Luck. If you want proof just look at the first half. That throw to Charles Clay was a prime example of what this offense is capable of when we don't have to keep our tightends inline blocking and our fullback in the backfield picking up blitzes all game long. When this team goes three wide and rolls out a back or tightend, we're very dangerous. But when you're constantly using six inline blockers, and one or two more in the backfield, it's hard to spread anyone out. If you ask me Tannehill is doing a great job with the limited number of targets he has.

I don't get why Miami is not using Bush in the passing game. He is a great mismatch for Lbers & yet they ignore it. It would be one thing if Miami had a great passing game, but really Bess, Fasano & Hartline?

Tanny's passes have to be pin point. Luck was throwing to wide open receivers with Yds between them & the Dbs.

I have to agree. Why not use Bush more like Darren Sproles is used? Maximize getting Bush matched up against linebackers. You have to believe there are plenty of yards left out of our offense each week he is not used enough.

Excellent job as usual, Rich. It's always a great chat when you are in the chat room with us.

Rich wrote:

The Ugly

The defensive playcalling on third down was very questionable. The Dolphins seemed to be content in rushing 3 or 4 and playing coverage. I don't recall one instance in which the Dolphins blitzed Luck on 3rd and long. With that much time to throw, he was able to wait it out while his wideouts got open against the soft coverage the Dolphins secondary was playing.

The Dolphins seemed most effective in rushing from the outside, but even that was lacking most of the time. What I couldn't understand is why we could not generate a pass rush up the middle at any point in the game. Is Satele really that good at center? And when he went out, was his backup as good? Nope. Even though Sean Smith didn't seem to have a clue where the ball was in the air, if you give any good quarterback that much time he will shred your secondary. Luck is as good as advertised ... and will probably be as good as Peyton Manning in a couple of years. I see why teams wanted to "suck for luck" last year.

I mentioned it on the radio show last night, but I also have a problem with how far back our DBs were playing off.

If it is 3rd and long and you are going to play DBs off, presumably you're doing it because you expect to keep the play in front of you and make a tackle. If that's the case, wouldn't blitzing make sense so the QB is forced to make a hot read?

But if you are going to try and rush 4, and there were times when the pass rush was getting close to luck but then he was throwing it to a wide open receiver, then wouldn't press coverage make sense?

The Dolphins DBs were always lining up 10 yards or more off, particularly against the slot guy. You have to re-route these receivers so that Luck has to hold the ball a little longer.

If you're going to rush 3 or 4, then play press coverage, keep your safeties over the top, and make the QB hold the ball a little more.

If you're going to play off, then bring pressure and force the hot read.

I thought we got away from the run in the second half. The game was close and our defense was on the field way too long. With the way we were running to the left side, I'll bet we could have chewed up far more clock and gotten our defense the rest they needed.

But if you are going to try and rush 4, and there were times when the pass rush was getting close to luck but then he was throwing it to a wide open receiver, then wouldn't press coverage make sense?

I was discussing this same thing the other day with a friend. The DBs are lost in zone. The WRs seem to get open quickly and our guys are so far off they can't even make the tackle after the catch. In press, at least they get hit in the back with the ball or are close enough to make the tackle.